National Iranian Oil Company to Issue $15 Billion in Bonds

National Iranian Oil Company Managing-Director Ahmad Qalebani said that his company will issue $15 billion oil bonds in 2011.

According to Qalebani, during March 2010-March 2011, there was a 90 percent increase in capital investment in the National Iranian Oil Company as compared to investment during the period March 2007 to March 2009, adding that a significant part of these investments came from the sale of oil bonds and the Iranian people purchased bonds worth $7.5 billion.

Qalebani noted, "Being less dependent on the government budget for the development of the National Iranian Oil Company is a big task, which is being taken care of gradually," Fars News Agency reported.

The National Iranian Oil Company, more familiarly known by the acronym NIOC, is a government-owned corporation under the direction of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran. Founded in 1948, NIOC is an oil and natural gas producer and distributor headquartered in the capital Tehran and is the world's second largest oil company, after Saudi Arabia's state-owned Aramco.

NIOC is currently focusing its efforts on expanding its sales to India and China. NIOC director Mohsen Ghamsari stated that the policy was a result of India and China being driving forces in the global energy market, telling journalists, "So we should allocate a larger portion of our exports to the two countries, while preserving the Asian and European markets."